Recently I visited The CAC: Contemporary Art Center, in downtown Cincinnati. The DAAP MFA students have their final thesis work on the second floor of the CAC. It will be up until April 10th. The work was very inspiring and eye opening. Two of my favorite pieces were a woven rope wall piece (left) and a large wood installation (right). Both pieces were large in scale and carried a presence. They were incredible. They journey the students traveled to reach this point showed in every piece. One of my favorite concepts in the exhibition was about photoshop and digital imaging taking over the human figure. Software's capabilities are endless when it comes to fixing the flaws on a figure. 'Flaws' being the beauties-- the unique traits of each individual shape. Overall it was a great show and I highly recommend checking it out!
CAC Address: 44 E 6th St, Cincinnati, OH 45202
http://www.contemporaryartscenter.org/calendar/2016/03/28/university-of-cincinnati-daap-mfa-thesis-show

Last week I had the opportunity to interview artist Kim Krause. A very knowledgable well-know/developed artist located here in Cincinnati. He is on the academic board for the Art Academy. He shared fantastic insight about his experiences prior to where he is now, as well as significant advice for  young artists. He repeated, keep creating. Try not to get wrapped up. As artists we need to be selfish. We need to set aside time and create, read, find ourselves, and really explore. We need to be selfish. We need time for ourselves. He made all of these eye-opening points. I never used the word selfish in my art practice, but honestly its true. Staying humble is a quality all artists should stay true to. Thank you Kim for the insightful conversation and meaningful words. Please check out his site, he is an amazing artist and person. ​http://www.kimkrauseartist.com/

Today, in one of my classes we had a speaker come in, Andrew Higley. He is a musician and photographer. He discussed some basic lighting tips for documenting work, then he started talking about his experience in DAAP to where he is now. 
I really enjoyed hearing his story, because I could relate to it in many ways. I am concentrating in photography and often deal with the conceptual aspect of my work. I am a formal photographer. Photography gives me a new outlook. I don't take pictures for a huge underlying concept, but simply because I am indulged in the results of a camera and the experimentation I get with the technology of a camera.
Andrew described his experience in DAAP that sounded very similar to my experience above. Andrew is very successful and doesn't feel the urge to always showcase his work in gallery spaces. I agree. I don't see my work fitting in a gallery either. I am much more interested in the formal qualities photographs can offer. 
http://www.abhigley.com

Alberta Pane Gallery's cube at the The Armory Show in New York was one of my favorites. Alberta Pane gallery is located in Paris, France. They showcased artist, Esther Stocker's work in New York this past weekend. There were several large black and white acrylic paintings and large crumpled paper balls 'thrown' throughout the space. I felt this sense of youth in the cube. It reminded me of passing notes in high school to one another, throwing them across the room before the teacher noticed.
https://www.thearmoryshow.com/
http://www.galeriealbertapane.com 

http://utabarth.net
Recently, my professor introduced Uta Barth to me. This woman is a master of subtle color-- just color combinations in general. Her composed images are so quiet and free. They have this sense of relief that I crave. I just wanted to share my favorite series of hers, 'Compositions of Light on White 2011'. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. 

http://www.josefhoflehner.com/
Recently, I studied Josef Hoflehner, an Australian photographer, for an artist presentation . His approach to creating art is a nice breath of fresh air. He creates work to just create. There isn't a big underlying concept or reasoning to his work. Often as artists, we tend to get wrapped up in the concept and don't create to just create. The enjoyment of creation needs to be exuded more through my work.
​His photographs give off this eerie sense of wonder. The photographs appear as if the world froze, and he managed to capture it. The spaces are empty and open. Hoflehner's images are often landscapes with subtle coloring or are in black and white.  I relate to Hoflehner's black and white images. Similar to some of my photographic studies, I focused on 'quiet' spaces. My work varies from Hoflehner's though. He captures large landscapes, I choose to capture more intimate moments within the large scaled landscape. Below are some of my photographs similar to Hoflehner's aesthetic. 

http://chriswiley.net/
Chris Wiley is one of my inspirations when it comes to content and process. Wiley will travel to a city and just start walking, exploring the different streets and alley ways. While walking, he's captures anything that grabs his attention. Whether it's a texture on a wall or a color combination. The content of his photographs often aren't as important as the photograph's form or coloring. He photographs moments in a space that most people would walk past without acknowledging. With my work, I try and recreate this similar experience. I will go to a location with my camera around my neck, and just walk, capturing everything that attracts my eye. This process is a little adventure for myself and has a sense of discovery. I like to abstract the objects through my lens-- capturing every unseen angle. Reviewing my adventure from my camera on my computer is one of the most rewarding aspects to this process. To see the new compositions, arrays of color, line, texture, and shape-- the objects in a new light.